Regensburg 2004 – scientific programme

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AKB: Biologische Physik

AKB 30: Biomaterials and Bioengineering

AKB 30.1: Invited Talk

Wednesday, March 10, 2004, 14:30–15:00, H40

Hierarchical Structure and Mechanical Function of Biological Materials — •Peter Fratzl — Max Planck Institute of Colloids and Interfaces, Department of Biomaterials, D-14424 Potsdam

Natural materials, such as tendon, bone, dentin, wood or mollusc shell are hierachically structured and functional adaptation occurs at all size levels. The aim of the newly created Department of Biomaterials at the Max-Planck-Institute of Colloids and Interfaces is, first, to study structure - function relations and the principles of mechanical deformation and adaptation at all the hierarchical levels in natural materials. The major approaches are in-situ deformation experiments with synchrotron radiation or environmental scanning electron microscopy, scanning probe techniques to obtain simultaneous structural and mechanical information at several size levels, as well as numerical simulation. Second, different approaches (No-dqbiomimeticsNo-dq and No-dqbiotemplatingNo-dq) are being pursued in order to transfer the principles of hierachical structuring to the development of new materials for various applications. Third, research on bone and connective tissue is carried out with the objective to characterize the effect of diseases (such as the No-dqbrittle bone diseaseNo-dq, for instance) as well as to study the consequence of osteoporosis treatments on the bone material quality.